“Focus on getting warm, getting fed, and getting plugged in to services.” My House offers shelter from the cold, access to services

Now that the snow events have dissipated for the next week, bitter cold temperatures are set to roll in to the Borough. For most, that means making sure there are extra cords of wood for the wood stoves, ensuring there is enough heating fuel, wrapping pipes to prevent bursting, and pulling out extra layers to bundle.

But there are people among us, perhaps someone we pass in the street or see around town, who have nowhere to go, have no shelter to rest or find services. While Anchorage has a host of emergency shelters, some in the Mat-Su Borough is taking a different approach.

There isn’t a congregate shelter like one might find in most cities, and there is a reason behind it.

“We are working, learning from what we’ve seen from Seattle, Anchorage, Portland, New York, Portland, and on. Creating a congregate shelter creates a sub-culture of addiction. We want to create a paradigm shift for help. Create a platform to receive services. Create an exit to homelessness,” says Michelle Overstreet, the founder and CEO of My House in Wasilla.

She also serves as the Chair for Governor Mike Dunleavy’s Alaska Council on the Homeless.

Overstreet says that many mass shelters, while well-meaning, do not address underlying issues that have led to homelessness, unstable housing, or couch surfing, and instead makes it permissible for people to eat and sleep, but not address the issues, whether it is substance use, criminal activity, family issues, and the like.

“We have to do better than that as a community. We have to give people a chance to build back their lives.”

My House, along with Family Promise, Mat Su Health Services, and Daybreak in Palmer work together as partners, willing to reach out and help those seeking shelter and resources to move away from homelessness and into stable housing, mental health services, substance use recovery, and employment. In a few days, Day 1 will be added to those resources.

“We are really trying to avoid a congregate shelter, and focus on getting warm, getting fed, and getting plugged into services.”

Palmer has seen a spike in homelessness and acute vagrancy and recently took steps to address it when Deputy Mayor Pam Melin hosted a public meeting to brainstorm ideas to stem the problem back in October.

Overstreet spoke at the Palmer City Council meeting earlier this week, offering insight and ideas that the city may be able to model in the future.

“It’s promising that they are taking it seriously and actively addressing it,” she said.

One obstacle to homelessness Overstreet sees for some is that people need to choose to use the resources that are available.

“It’s so hard when they don’t want to come in, won’t come in from the cold,” she says.

Overstreet remains hopeful that progress can be made and that with community action, improvements are possible.

“Huge strides have been made. We have the services if people want them. We have partners will to help. We can do it.”

For youth and young adults, age 14 to 26 needing assistance, My House does have a drop in center in the heart of Wasilla, and housing sites scattered as part of their “Couch Surf” program, in which kids don’t go through the whole process at once, but make a promise to visit the drop-in center the next day and make connections to services.

“It is done with the expectation that they don’t want to be homeless, that while we might be able to fix everything, we can offer warmth, hot soup and sandwiches, and connections to services and a case manager.”

On-call services are also available after hours, and can be accessed by calling (907) 354-4357 (HELP).

“We don’t turn any kid away, whether it’s the middle of the night, we have an on-call case manager. We didn’t through COVID and we won’t during freezing temperatures.”

The My House drop in center is located at 300 N. Willow Street in Wasilla. For more information about My House, visit www.myhousematsu.org

For anyone in need of resources, including emergency food and shelter, alcohol and drug treatment programs, senior services, child care, and much more, call 2-1-1.